Post by menegil on May 23, 2010 19:11:24 GMT -5
Hello, folks, Ernil Menegil here. Posting for the first time to bring you a wee little gem as my first post.
My "Understanding Alignments" paper is a proud accomplishment of mine, fruit of as much research as could be conducted into the nature of alignments and their function in the world itself. I present it now to you, no strings attatched. Fair warning; it is long, and very comprehensive. I noticed there was an Alignment thread already in this forum, yet its lack of depth (common to most alignment-related topics) moved me to post this. Hope this helps you.
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Understanding Alignments - A Comprehensive Essay and Gathering of Excerpts on the nature of Good and Evil
Defining how alignments work in Faerûn can be a daunting task for the uninitiated in Realmslore. Most of us are accustomed to the purest philosophical concepts, and how they are relativized by the human psyche. A lie is justifiable if it saves the world. Killing an ill, disease-ridden child to stop his illness from spreading. In our world, such moral dilemmas fill us with doubt , pushing us to question everything we have for granted on what is right and what is wrong. In the world of DnD, and in the Forgotten Realms in particular, it gains wholly new dimensions.
The presence of magic, the presence of palpably active gods, the existence of many other sentient races, oftentimes more objectively powerful, longer-living and wiser than humans. All of these things and many, many more place many heavy questions on what is deemed right and wrong, or rather, what -should- be deemed as right and wrong. DnD lore answers these questions, in the form of the Books of Exalted Deeds and Vile Darkness. Understanding alignments is a pivotal part of roleplay, a pillar of definition, concrete and with purpose. “Good and Evil are not philosophical concepts in the D&D game. They are forces that define the cosmos”, forces that are represented by the Gods and other entities, as the Player's Handbook states, standing alongside Chaos and Law to form the four great pillars that sustain all in the Forgotten Realms and the D&D as a roleplaying game.
With that said, and much in the same way such things are defined in philosophical essays, alignments are best viewed in two perspectives; the objectivist and subjectivist. For the sake of the game's playability and simplicity, the objectivist perspective is seen and understood as the dominant and canonical one, and the one most vividly recommended by all writers that have contributed to Realmslore, due to the difficulty of relativist playability. This shall become clear once we elaborate on each alignment in particular (as we first begin with Evil, and elaborate on Good). For this purpose, entire transcripts from the Books of Vile Darkness and Exalted Deeds were prepared, by me, to provide everyone with a basic rundown of how any alignment should be treated, with few (and marked) alterations and additions from my part. Furthermore, I have tried to hunt for further information in more sources, in order to present as comprehensive and insightful a guide to how you can better your roleplaying by aspiring to the highest values of Good and the lowest depravities of Evil.
EVIL
Evil is a word that is probably overused. In the context of the game, the word should be reserved for the dark force of destruction and death that tempts souls to wrongdoing and perverts wholesomeness and purity at every turn. Evil is vile, corrupt, and irredeemably dark. It is not naughty or ill-tempered or misunderstood. It is black-hearted, selfish, cruel, bloodthirsty, and malevolent.
THE OBJECTIVE APPROACH
This is the straightforward approach taken in the D&D game, and it is the one stressed in these pages as well. From this frame of reference, evil can be judged objectively. The evil nature of a creature, act or item isn't relative to the person observing it; it just is evil or it isn't. This clear-cut definition allows spells such as Holy Smite to work. Conversely, an objective definition of Evil exists because the Detect Evil spell works. Want to know what's Evil? Don't study a philosophy book, just watch who gets hurt when the cleric casts Holy Smite. Those creatures are evil. The things they do, generally speaking, are evil acts. If your character isn't certain, he can summon a celestial creature or cast a Commune spell and simply ask, “Is this Evil?” The higher powers are right there, ready to communicate.
The Player's Handbook says, “'Evil' implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualm if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.”
This objective approach to evil works well for fantasy roleplaying games. Evil is a thing that a hero can point at and know he must fight. An objective concept of evil allows players (and their characters) to avoid most ethical or moral quandaries, particularly the kinds that can derail a game session. If you run an adventure about fighting gnolls, you don't normally want the entire session consumed by a philosophical debate about whether killing gnolls is a good thing or a bad thing.
THE RELATIVE APPROACH (VARIANT)
A second approach considers evil to be a relative concept that is wholly dependent on the attitude of the observer. This is not the approach of most D&D games; rather, it resembles how many people see the real world. Using this as a variant outlook changes a game dramatically – at least as far as “evil” is concerned. In the relative approach, evil is not something that your character can point a finger at; it's relative to each individual. While it's possible for a number of creatures (an entire culture, for example) to have a similar view on what is good and what is evil, another group might have a different or even opposite view. Of course, conflicting views can also occur if your D&D game uses the objective approach, but in that case, one group can simply prove that its views are right.
In a world where evil is relative, a deity might put forth tenets describing what is right and wrong, or good and evil. But another god might have different, even contradictory dogma. A paladin of one deity might talk about the evil, godless heathens across the mountains and eventually go to war with them. If she does, she may find herself battling paladins of a different god and a different culture who look upon the crusading paladin as an evil infidel.
If you decide that this is the approach you want, you have some game-related decisions to make ((Because, invariably, game rules will always have weight and place concerning the moderation of roleplay)). For instance, in a world where evil is relative, how does a Detect Evil spell work? When two paladins of opposing views meet on the field of battle, can they use their smite abilities against each other? The easiest and best option in this case is to do away with spells such as Detect Evil because they have no real meaning. Take away the Good and Evil descriptors from spells (So that any character can cast any of those spells), and disregard any holy or unholy damage a weapon deals. Having to know or determine the outlook of a character casting Detect Evil is cumbersome and unwieldy, and it leads to the confusion and arguments over who should be affected by the paladin's holy sword or the cleric's Holy Smite.
DEFINING EVIL
Of course, even if you take an objective approach in your game, evil people might not always call themselves evil. They would be wrong or simply lying to do so, but they might still deny their evil nature. Even the most deranged mass murderer might be able to justify his actions to himself in the name of his beliefs, his deity, or some skewed vision of what is best for the world.
A killer might slay any children he deems weak or unfit to reach adulthood. Another might kill children he believes will grow up and become evil themselves. Perhaps such a killer once had a prophetic dream telling him that evil was growing among the children of the town.
On a larger scale, an evil priest might believe that to serve better his dark god, he needs to destroy an entire village and sacrifice all the residents. Is that evil? Yes. Does the priest see it as evil? No, he sees it as a demonstration of his unending devotion and an aspect of his faith. Or perhaps he does see it as evil and doesn't care.
A dictator might order the elimination of an entire race of good creatures because she believes them to be evil. She might seek to dominate the world and bring its people under her unyielding fist. But such a despot could also believe that she is a good person and that the world will be better off with her guidance. This attitude makes her no less a villain.
INTENT AND CONTEXT
So, does the objective definition of evil imply that intent plays no part in determining what is good and what isn't? Only to a degree.
Consider the paladin Zophas. When climbing to the top of a hill of loose rocks to get away from some owlbears, he triggers a rock slide that buries the owlbears and continues down the hill, crushing a hut full of commoners. Is Zophas an evil murderer who must suddenly lose his lawful good alignment? No, although Zophas might still feel guilt and responsibility. He might attempt to right the inadvertent wrong as best he can.
But what if Zophas' friend Shurrin said, “Don't climb up there, Zophas! You might start a rock slide that will crush the hut!” Zophas goes anyway. Now is this evil? Probably. Zophas was either carelessly endangering the commoners or so overconfident of his climbing prowess that he acted out of hubris ((A necessarily Chaotic approach to things, and thus against paladin creeds)). At this point, Zophas isn't exactly a murderer, but he should probably lose his paladin abilities until he receives an Atonement spell or otherwise makes amends.
If Zophas can clearly see the danger of the rock slide but climbs up anyway because he wants to get away from the owlbears, that's clearly evil. In a world of black-and-white distinctions between good and evil, killing innocents to save yourself is an evil act. Sacrificing yourself for the good of others is a good act. It's a high standard, but that's the way it is.
The foregoing text defines three levels of intent: accidental acts ((Often not immediately changing alignments)), reckless or negligent acts ((At the very least, purely Chaotic in nature)), and intentionally evil misdeeds. Sometimes, however, those categories are insufficient to determine evil intent. You are free to judge an act in the context of other actions.
A maniac puts poison in a town's water supply, believing (wrongly) that all of the people in the town are demons. Is that evil? Yes. A glabrezu convinces a good character that the townsfolk are all fiends that must be destroyed, so the character pours poison into the town's water supply. Is that evil? Probably not – at least, not in the context of the rest of the character's actions and circumstances involved. Still, good characters shouldn't commit even remotely questionable acts on a large scale unless they're absolutely sure there's no other way to succeed. It's rarely a good idea to destroy a town of evil people, because there might be at least a few good people in the town as well.
But let's make this even more complicated. Another character witnesses the good character about to put poison in the town's drinking water. Is it evil for the witness to kill the poisoning character in order to stop him? No. Again, the intent isn't evil, and the context makes such an act preferable to the alternative. Standing by while a mass murder occurs – the other choice the witness has – is far more evil than preventing the poisoning.
GRAY AREAS
Even with the most black-and-white, objective approach to good and evil, gray areas will always exist. Consider this example: A terrible disease has come to the village of Varro, and the cure lies in the heartwood of the sacred trees of Varrowood. The villagers go into the wood to get the cure. The druids of Varrowood believe that the trees are holy and should not be violated. They try to stop the villagers. Is either side truly evil in this scenario? Probably not ((Thus fitting in the frame for Neutral characters and actions.
Not all conflicts are based on good versus evil. ((The War of Light and Darkness, laden in every aspect of Faerûnian life, is based on the timeless conflict between Selûne and Shar, Good and Evil, but from that initial clash were born many deities of law and chaos. Tempus, Silvanus, Mystryl and Amaunator are examples of pure Lawful and pure Chaotic deities that were spawned from that conflict, and they, too, are involved in their own inter deity conflicts based on the diametrical opposition of Law versus Chaos)) It is possible for two good nations to go to war. It is likely that two evil nations will go to war. Is it evil for your character to kill a good character if your character's kingdom is at war with his? That's certainly a gray area. Characters who are extremely strict in their moral outlook ((i.e. Focusing far more extremely on the Good side of the alignment spectrum than the Lawful/Chaotic)) should examine the reasons behind the war very closely. In general, quarter should be given and accepted. Such a character should cause no more damage and inflict no more harm than is necessary. If possible, he or she should find a different way to resolve the conflict.
EVIL ACTS
Examining the actions of the malevolent not only helps define what Evil is, but it also gives an insight into the schemes of a villain. What follows is more than a list that defines evil as opposed to good – it defines entire personalities.
LYING – Misdirection, tricks, and manipulation are tools of the trade for most villains. With such tools, they can lead enemies into traps, both physical and otherwise. A well-told, well-placed lie can redirect a whole army, change the opinion of an entire city's populace, or simply make an adventurer open the wrong door in a dungeon.
Some liars are compulsive; that is, they have a psychological need to lie. Others delight in fooling people ((though this can be a trait of any Chaotic character, good or evil)). If a villain can get a foe to believe a lie, he has shown himself (at least in his own mind) to be superior to that foe.
Intelligent villains thus often focus on gaining Bluff to facilitate their lies. Of course, being liars themselves alerts them to the fact that others probably lie just as much as they do. Thus, they often have a high Sense Motive ((Concentration)) modifier as well.
Lying is not necessarily an evil act ((It is a pure Chaotic tool, used for the disruption of the true order of things. It interferes with the logic of truth)), though it is a tool that can easily be used for evil ends. Lying is so easy to use for evil purposes that most knightly codes and the creeds of many good religions ((Especially, and mainly, the Lawful Good religions)) forbid it altogether.
CHEATING – Cheating is here defined as breaking the rules for personal gain (For, lato sensu, cheating is a pure Chaotic action – a Chaotic Good character can and will cheat if it means guaranteeing good, such as robbing the evil baron's taxes via violence in order to return the taxes to the needy). When evil villains cheat, it's not just at games. They create contracts with clauses that they can manipulate to trick others. Villains manipulate officials so that evildoers are set free instead of going to prison. They rig their enemies' equipment so that it breaks or does not function properly. Cheaters may threaten the lives of a councilman's family to make him vote for their plan. They may use spells and poison to ensure that a particular gladiator dies in the arena so that they can earn a profit by wagering on the survivor.
Cheating can take many forms. For example, a cheater might trick two friends into fighting each other, or fool an enemy's lover into betraying his or her loved one. A cheater might challenge an opponent to a rigged contest, or a fight that is rigged, or simply make an agreement that he or she has no intention on upholding. Even a Lawful Evil character will cheat, provided he can both get away with it and that it does not conflict with his assumed codes of conduct. Only such conditions prevent a Lawful Evil character from cheating whenever she feels like it.
THEFT – Any child can tell you that stealing is wrong. Villains, however, often see theft as the best way to acquire what they want. Evil people pay only for things they cannot take. ((Again, like the two previous acts, it is Chaotic in nature – and it is its potential for evil deeds that is here covered)) An evil character needs a reason not to steal. Fear of being caught is the most common deterrent, but sometimes a villain elects not to steal an item because he or she doesn't want to incur the wrath of its owner ((or a self-imposed conduct obliges him to not steal – such as a monastic vow of poverty, for instance, in the belief that volition in evil is far sweeter than forcefulness and randomness, which theft represents, a very Lawful point of view)). For example, a drow cleric might pay a rogue for a magic item. The cleric isn't averse to stealing from the rogue ((Drow clerics are all too often Chaotic or Neutral Evil, which makes this point of view especially attractive to them)), but she pays for the item so that the rogue will continue working for her.
BETRAYAL – A betrayal is often nothing more than an elaborate lie, but its implications are greater. Such an act involves earning someone's trust, and then using that trust against him or her. Common acts of betrayal include learning and then revealing secrets, or using trust to get close to one's enemies for an attack or theft.
Betrayal does not have to be intentional – or at least it does not have to start intentionally. Sometimes a character can be tempted into betraying someone whose trust he or she earned legitimately. Children can betray their parents, a lover can betray a lover, and a friend can betray a friend. However, it can also be more complex than that: A king can betray his people, a husband can betray his wife's family, and a human can betray his entire race. Virtually any sort of link between two creatures can eventually become the foundation for betrayal.
MURDER – Killing is one of the most horrible acts that a creature can commit. Murder is the killing of an intelligent creature for a nefarious purpose: Theft, personal gain, perverse pleasure, or the like.
The characters who got themselves into the green dragon's woodland lair to slay it are not murderers. In a fantasy world based on an objective definition of evil, killing an evil creature to stop it from doing further harm is not an evil act. Even killing an evil creature for personal gain is not exactly evil (although it is not a good act), because it still stops the creature's predations on the innocent. Such a justification, however, works only for the slaying of creatures of consummate, irredeemable evil, such as chromatic dragons ((And most of the Monster Manual contents)).
Evil beings delight in murder. It is the ultimate expression of their power and their willingness to commit any sort of heinous act. It shows that they are either powerful enough or detached enough to do anything they wish.
To particularly evil creatures, especially those with very alien outlooks, murder is itself a desirable goal. Some such creatures hate life and despise all that lives. They relish either death or undeath, and thus seek to quench life wherever possible. Such creatures are usually (But not always) undead themselves.
VENGEANCE – Revenge is a powerful force. An act of vengeance does not have to be evil, but the evil mindset usually redefines the concept as “revenge at any price”. Vengeance without limits can quickly lead to all sorts of evil acts.
For example, suppose someone steals a magic ring from an elven wizard. The wizard breaks into a duergar fortress to use a crystal ball to locate the thief. The elf teleports to the thief's location – a busy tavern – and begins hurtling lightning bolts into the crowd. The thief gets away and uses a Nondetection spell to keep such a close call from happening again. Undaunted, the wizard magically adopts an inconspicuous form and begins to track down the thief's family members, torturing them for information regarding his whereabouts. Such a scenario depicts the evil side of revenge.
Forgiveness and mercy are not traits that most evil creatures possess. Vengeance for wrongs committed against them – or even for perceived wrongs – is the only appropriate response.
WORSHIPPING EVIL GODS AND DEMONS – Priests who revere dark powers are as evil as the beings they serve. In the name of Bane, Shar or Lolth, these foul emissaries make living sacrifices, conduct malevolent rites, and put schemes in motion to aid their patrons. Sometimes, the activities of evil cultists are straightforward: kidnapping victims for sacrifice, stealing money to fund their temples, or simply following a dogma that requires murder, rape, or activities even more foul. Other times, their machinations are far subtler than such overt crimes.
For example, an archdevil such as Belial might begin a scheme by instructing his followers in a town (Through dreams, visions and Commune spells) to drive off families with healthy children of a particular age. In twenty years, when such children would have been adults in their prime, Belial intends to unleash a powerful cornugon to steal a valuable artifact from the local church. With few able-bodied adults available to stop the theft, the cornugon is more likely to succeed.
Evil temples are sometimes secret places hidden within unsuspecting communities. Beneath an old barn, in a warehouse, or simply in a back room of someone's home – an evil temple can be anywhere. Larger, more permanent shrines to malevolence are usually situated farther away from civilization – at least, far away from good-aligned communities. Such an evil church may be a towering structure of stone covered with macabre reliefs and filled with terrible statuary, standing alone in the wilderness. Other evil temples may be surrounded by towns or cities produced by foul creatures.
ANIMATING THE DEAD OR CREATING UNDEAD – Unliving corpses – corrupt mockeries of life and purity – are inherently evil. Creating them is one of the most heinous crimes against the world that a character can commit. Even if they are commanded to do something good, undead invariably bring negative energy into the world, which makes it a darker and more evil place.
Many communities keep their graveyards behind high walls or even post guards to keep grave robbers out. Grave-robbing is often a lucrative practice, since necromancers pay good money for raw materials. Of course, battlefields are also popular places for grave-robbers – or for necromancers themselves – to seek corpses.
CASTING EVIL SPELLS – Evil spells may create undead, inflict undue suffering, harm another's soul, or produce any of a slew of similar effects.
Sometimes, a nonevil spellcaster can get away with casting a few evil spells, as long as he or she does not do so for an evil purpose. But the path of evil magic leads quickly to corruption and destruction. Spells with corruption costs are so evil that they take a physical and spiritual toll on the caster.
DAMNING OR HARMING SOULS – While harming one's enemies physically is not inherently evil, harming their souls is always evil. Only the foulest of villains would actually want to cause pain to another creature's eternal aspect. Creatures without corrupt hearts simply dispatch their foes quickly, believing that sending a villain off to the justice of the afterlife is punishment enough. But evil beings like to capture foes and torture them to death, and some even prefer to torture the souls of their foes, never granting them the release of death. Worse still, some evil beings use their foul magic to destroy an opponent's soul, ending his or her existence altogether.
CONSORTING WITH FIENDS – If characters can be judged by the company they keep, then those who deal with fiends – demons and devils – are surely evil beings themselves. Fiends are the ultimate expression of evil given animate form – literally evil incarnate. Destroying a fiend is always a good act. Allowing a fiend to exist, let alone summoning one or helping one, is clearly evil.
Occasionally, a spellcaster may summon a fiendish creature to accomplish some task. Such an act is evil, but not terribly so. However, some characters, particularly those who worship demons or devils or see them as valuable allies, may work with (or for) fiends to further their own ends. Worse still, some mortals sell their souls to fiends in order to gain more power or support. Although dealing with fiends or selling souls is risky at best, the lust for power is a temptation too strong for some to resist. But fiends have great power, infinite life spans, and a delight for double-crossing others, so it's not surprising that most characters who ask for a fiend's aid end up on the wrong end of the deals they make.
CREATING EVIL CREATURES – Some villains are not content with simply consorting with, summoning, or controlling evil creatures. They feel the need to go one step further and actually create such creatures with foul experiments or evil magic.
Evil warlords sometimes create legions of horrible monsters (or have their underlings do so) and lead them into battle against the forces of good. Demons, devils and other foul creatures guard their fortresses. The desire to create is strong, and so is the desire to have a large number of easily-controllable minions. Both creation and control demonstrate power, and power-mad villains are all too common.
Another way to create evil creatures is to allow the monsters themselves to remake fallen foes in their own images. For example, a bodak's victims arise the next day as new bodaks, and a werewolf can spread its evil by infecting others with lycanthropy. Characters who foster such processes are often interested in spreading evil for evil's sake. Such evildoers love the chaos, death and suffering that such monsters bring.
USING OTHERS FOR PERSONAL GAIN – Whether it is sacrificing a victim on an evil god's altar to gain a boon, or simply stealing from a friend, using others for one's own purposes is a hallmark of villainy. A villain routinely puts others in harm's way to save his or her own neck – better that others die, surely.
The utter selfishness of an evil character rarely leaves room for empathy. He is so consumed with his own goals and desires that he can think of no reason not to succeed at the expense of others. At best, other creatures are cattle to be used, preyed upon, or led. At worst, they are gnats to be ignored or objects to be bypassed.
GREED – Greed is so simple a motivation that it hardly seems worth mentioning. Yet it drives villains perhaps more than any other factor. Greed is tied into most of the types of evil behavior mentioned here. Ambition taken too far – particularly advancement at the expense of others – can manifest itself as greed. Lust for wealth, power or prestige can lead to jealousy, theft, murder, betrayal and a host of other evils.
BULLYING AND COWING INNOCENTS – Bullying is simply a symptom of an obsession with power. A villain who has power over another likes to brandish that power to prove her own might, both to herself and to others. Such brutes feel that power has no worth if others do not know about it.
Although the archetypal bully is a strong and powerful thug, other kinds of bullies exist as well. Sometimes a bully uses magical might rather than physical prowess to cow those around her. Sometimes the power is political in nature. The ten-year-old princess who forces bards to sing songs of her beauty or else face the wrath of her tyrannical mother (the queen) is indeed a bully.
BRINGING DESPAIR – Evil creatures often enjoy spreading pain and misery to others. Some do this because breaking the spirits of others makes them feel superior: others sow despair for the sheer joy it provides them.
Sometimes encouraging misery runs counter to other evil goals. For example, a blackguard interested in bringing despair might leave his enemies alive but wounded, defeated, and broken and maybe even cursed or magically corrupted). However, refusing to finish off one's foes isn't always the wisest course of action, because the blackguard's enemies might heal themselves and oppose him again, with a vengeance.
Similarly, a misery-loving fiend might tell a captured foe his plans before he kills her, just to revel in his victim's despair. Such a creature wants its enemies to realize how utterly defeated they are.
A villain with a love of misery may attempt to break his foes, either instead of or before killing them. Straightforward techniques such as torture can break an enemy, and so can more elaborate schemes such as destroying the good aspects of an enemy's life, one by one. The villain might also frame the foe for others' crimes, spread lies about him, destroy his home, or infect him with a disease. A crafty, despair-loving villain makes it unusual for the foe's loved ones to speak his name except as a curse.
Despair-loving creatures delight in spells such as Bestow Curse, Contagion, and Sorrow. Such villains love using any magical effect that does more than simply kill their foes because they consider death too pleasant an end.
TEMPTING OTHERS – Tempting good individuals to do wrong is an evil act. Plots with this goal are largely the purview of demons and devils that seek to corrupt mortals in order to taint their souls. The products of a tempter's work are larvae, the physical manifestations of evil souls on the Lower Planes. Larvae are valuable to fiends: in fact, they are a form of currency in their own right ((Most especially so with the Devils, who must have souls to fuel their powers)). Some demons and devils, particularly erinyes, succubi and glabrezu spend almost all their time corrupting mortals with offers of sex, power, magic or other pleasures.
When evil mortals tempt other mortals, often the tempation comes in the form of a bribe to get others to do what the villain wants. For example, a wealthy man might convince a woman to kill her father in return for a vast sum of money. Unlike a demon, the wealthy man doesn't care about corrupting the woman's soul; he just wants the father dead. Still other mortal evildoers might tempt someone to commit an evil act for the sheer pleasire of spreading temptation.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE SPECIFIC ALIGNMENTS
CHAOTIC EVIL
With chaotic evil, the unifying factor is “fear of the big guy” (just as with chaotic good, the unifying social factor is “desire to look out for the evil guy”). Chaotic evil has a reputation as “the eeeeeeeevilest evil” because the big booty-trouncing red dragons and Unspeakable Demons from the Abyss were chaotic evil. Maybe there's a connection, but it works in the other direction. Big Red isn't powerful because he is chaotic evil. He's chaotic evil because he's powerful. When you can win any argument by saying “Hey, talk to the 14-die breath weapon”, there's not a lot of incentive to be organized or reasonable.
Chaotic evil is lazy evil: it gets things done in the simplest possible way. Chaotic evil can also be considered “efficient evil”. Coveting your neighbor's house? Conk him over the head and move in! Don't like the adventurers creeping in your dungeon? Waste'em! Nothing troubling you at the moment? Take a nap! Like every other alignment, chaotic evil types tend to hang together because they understand one another. These groups don't have a lot of rules or formal structures. The boss is the boss because he gets things done and is strong enough to bend others to his will. The underlings want to be in charge, and one of them will probably get ambitious enough to attack the leader eventually … assuming the leader doesn't crush him first.
A society based on violence and poor impulse control has some built-in limits to its size. No matter how powerful a leader is, his number of followers is limited to those he can personally awe or bully ((See the Cyricists, or the Orcish society)). If the followers eat to live (as opposed to demons, who only eat for the fun of it), the number is far more limited, because chaotic evil types don't have the patience to farm or the organizational skills to make slaves do it. Basically, chaotic evil groups are like biker gangs in those old 1950s scare flicks. They're tough, they're mean, they're unpredictable, they ride in and seize what they want, but they don't stick around because they really can't. Once they've stolen whatever they can carry, there's no reason to stay: They're off to the next town ripe for the riping.
Individually, chaotic evil beings tend to be the toughest because they're more likely to do crazy
stuff like fighting to the death or meet a massed charge with a massed charge. Their tactics tend to be built around mobility, surprise and overwhelming offense. But because they burn twice as bright, they only last half as long.
These problems only get amplified in a society where everyone's looking out for number one, and there's no stated or implied punishment if you successfully kill the boss. Chaotic evil gangs tend to scatter when the leader dies, and if you negotiate with the underlings it doesn't take long to find someone who'd love to slit the chief's throat – if he thought he could get away with it. As individually tough as they are, chaotic evil societies are among the easiest to take apart. Methodical patience and a willingness to play the inevitable factions off against eachother can be the greatest allies when dealing with such groups.
((The best example of this is how Drow society is conducted. Might makes Right for Chaotic Evil characters – it does not immediately lead them to outright crazed violence. Rather a deep seethed sense of paranoia that pits them against everyone else.))
LAWFUL EVIL
All the problems chaotic evil societies have are not problems for lawful evil. Chaotic evil is the cycle gang who kicks down your door, steals your stuff, burns your house and deep-fries your puppy dog – then leaves. Lawful evil is a faceless bureaucracy that seizes your house through eminent domain laws, confiscates your property with a court-ordered foreclosure, puts your puppy dog to sleep because he wasn't registered, and then offers to rent your old house back to you at a reasonable rate. Lawful evil is organized. Violence is the last resort, after it's tried blackmail, bribery, threats and devious backroom political maneuvering. Chaotic evil hates to back down from an open fight. Lawful evil hates open fights; it would much rather sneak into your bedroom, cast a sleep spell on you to make sure you're really out, and then put a pillow over your face. So much tidier.
Lawful Evil societies have far, far greater potential for longevity and growth because they're based on obedience, order and deferring gratification. Where chaotic evil wants it now, lawful evil wants it all, and if it has to wait ten years to wear you down, it's got a clear calendar. It's simple to take down a chaotic evil society; you just kill the boss (this may not be easy, but it is simple.) Rarely is it that straightforward in a lawful evil socirty, because the structures of the society are what make it evil. Cut down one corporal in the army and another comes straight out of the military academy to take his place. Lawful evil might have a few noteworthy individuals who serve as champions and leaders, but they don't rely on them the way chaotic evil does. You can hack a few branches off, but the tree is still there.
For instance, imagine a society that holds that “Only old male humans are worthy of respect”. If you fall outside those three categories, it is okay for any old male human to rob, enslave or imprison you. If you have one of those traits, you are better off than those with none, and if you've got two, you're almost a citizen – but not quite. The old male humans have got a good thing going, so they support the system. The old male elves and dwarves are second class citizens., but they're still better off than young women, so they can't complain too much. But if you're a young halfling woman, you'd better not show your face in public because you have no legal recourse for anything anyone wants to do with you.
Conquering a lawful evil society is no picnic because they plan, organize and obey their superiors. Lawful evil societies are built on the idea that individuals are tools. There is nothing unique or special about any particular hobgoblin in the army, so the strategies and tactics of the lawful evil mob are based on the idea that any individual can do it. They tend towards siege engines, fortifications, phalanxes and defensive technologies, like shields and armor.
NEUTRAL (A.k.a. PURE) EVIL
Unlike either chaotic or lawful evil, the neutral evil organization both respects laws and tries to find a way around them. There is structure, but it is loosely created and even less adhered to. The ideal situation for a neutral evil 'person' is one in which he can convince the opponent to abide by the rules – all the while breaking them himself. They are hypocrites, two-faced dealers that provide a back-drop for their gains, and then destroy their own rules whenever it becomes troublesome to deal with them.
In many games, the neutral evil character is rightfully described as “Neutral Me”. Their number one goal is not simply to acquire power, or riches, but to grasp anything that they desire. After they have gained it, they may well forget about it and move on – once its usefulness is finished, or the thrill of the acquisition is gone. Chaotic evil wants it now. Lawful evil wants it all. Neutral evil simply wants it, and will go to any lengths, including patience, outright bartering or even working with a good party to get it. The neutral evil villains do occasionally keep their word and stick to contracts – when it is in their best interest.
Where you can trust chaotic evil to rampage, and lawful evil to tyrannize, you just can't trust neutral evil will do anything. They even break their own rules. Unlike chaotic evil, they have no problem with impulse control – they can machinate with the best of them. Unlike lawful evil, on the other hand, they have no desire to organize or conform, and can adapt their plan and their nature as suits the situation.
While this can make for an extremely powerful individual, neutral evil societies are rare and short-lived. People with neutral evil tendencies rarely care enough to gather in groups, unless the pauoff is rich ((For instance, the clergy of Shar, who adhere in small cells simply because they are most convenient for the persecution of Shar's goals.)) They almost never create established communities, or form organized and structured government systems – what would be the point? They would all ignore it, machinate the rules, and eventually destroy the society they had created. A neutral evil individual prefers to find an existing society, and abuse its laws and systems for their own gain, all the while pretending to adhere to their structure. This allows the neutral evil to take an advantage over the indigent residents, who actually do follow the laws and rules, and won't see the neutral evil's plan coming until it is too late.
Then, after the neutral evil individual has taken everything he wanted, he moves on and finds another society to exploit. Good, evil, beneficent or malevolent - it doesn't matter, so long as the neutral evil gets whatever he was searching for.
The occasional small neutral evil society that does form must have some other reason to stay together. Family units, parasitic creatures or other systems where the group is more powerful than the individual can work, but only so long as all parties know that they would not be better off alone (or if they cannot exist apart) ((Again, see Sharran cult cell formation and society)). In such circumstances, the leader is often the individual who can manipulate the others into supporting him, or whose personal ability outshines the others. Even so, he should always be aware that the rest of the society is looking for ways around his command, and to “slip the bonds” of his control.
Conquering a neutral evil society is a laughable prospect. First, they aren't organized enough to “conquer”. If you march in and claim the area, they will certainly agree with you – and then quietly assassinate your generals, commanders, and whoever else needs to be removed in order for you to leave them alone. Ordering tithe or obeisance from a neutral evil will bring you a great deal of polite lip service, at least until such time as you realize the shipments of grain were poisoned,
and now your peasants are dying by the score. Neutral evil doesn't need pride, and it doesn't need to be “respected”. It isn't going to fight you face-to-face, and it won't burst into a rampage of chaotic slaughter when you trigger its anger. It will smile politely, bow, and then stab you in the back when you least expect it. It will find your weak link, and exploit it, The dagger in your back might be held by your dear wife, convinced that you are a shapechanger, or even from your closest friend. The worst part is that the neutral evil individual has most likely convinced these people that they are doing it “for your own good”. All behind the scenes, of course, and carefully ignoring only the rules that would constrict his actions.
CONCLUSION
So, what to apprehend from all of this? First off, alignments are set as the ultimate guiding forces that shape the Realms. In a black-grey-and-white settings such as the Forgotten Realms, it is not as evident. The Gods personify the alignments and their many aspects, as do extraplanar creatures such as Devils, Demons and Celestials. When the relativist perspective can be adopted, these pillar conceptions of Realmslore topple over. Infinite paradoxes are created, and a number of things inherent to the setting, such as the Negative and Positive Energy Planes, evil and good energies used in spells and yet others are made completely and utterly useless, which impoverishes the setting in its entirety to create something different altogether. Which is why I heartily concur with the author of the Book of Vile Darkness when he says that the objectivist perspective is best adopted, for it was in that perspective that all Realmslore was written. To apply a relativist approach would mean reinventing the entire setting from the very foundation blocks. While not reprehensible, it is a herculean task, given the astounding level of detail with which life in the Realms has been described and designed.
Evil is, thus, the force of destruction that threatens and permeates the world, the second-half of the Good/Evil dichotomy that defines the entirety of the multiverse. In many examples, it is irredeemable, most often so in creatures so ingrained into it that it would be impossible to turn them away from misdeed, such as demons, chromatic dragons and the vast majority of undead. A force well-defined, and not the philosophical concept we, as real-world humans, understand it to be.
Evil implies hurting, destroying, corrupting, all in the name of evil values such as selfishness and lust. To even brush in acts permeated in it will lead to a tainted soul in need of purification. Such is the nature of the alignments in the forgotten realms – forces that are not limited to human behavior, but to the very behavior of the cosmos. Forces far, far above themselves.
My "Understanding Alignments" paper is a proud accomplishment of mine, fruit of as much research as could be conducted into the nature of alignments and their function in the world itself. I present it now to you, no strings attatched. Fair warning; it is long, and very comprehensive. I noticed there was an Alignment thread already in this forum, yet its lack of depth (common to most alignment-related topics) moved me to post this. Hope this helps you.
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Understanding Alignments - A Comprehensive Essay and Gathering of Excerpts on the nature of Good and Evil
Defining how alignments work in Faerûn can be a daunting task for the uninitiated in Realmslore. Most of us are accustomed to the purest philosophical concepts, and how they are relativized by the human psyche. A lie is justifiable if it saves the world. Killing an ill, disease-ridden child to stop his illness from spreading. In our world, such moral dilemmas fill us with doubt , pushing us to question everything we have for granted on what is right and what is wrong. In the world of DnD, and in the Forgotten Realms in particular, it gains wholly new dimensions.
The presence of magic, the presence of palpably active gods, the existence of many other sentient races, oftentimes more objectively powerful, longer-living and wiser than humans. All of these things and many, many more place many heavy questions on what is deemed right and wrong, or rather, what -should- be deemed as right and wrong. DnD lore answers these questions, in the form of the Books of Exalted Deeds and Vile Darkness. Understanding alignments is a pivotal part of roleplay, a pillar of definition, concrete and with purpose. “Good and Evil are not philosophical concepts in the D&D game. They are forces that define the cosmos”, forces that are represented by the Gods and other entities, as the Player's Handbook states, standing alongside Chaos and Law to form the four great pillars that sustain all in the Forgotten Realms and the D&D as a roleplaying game.
With that said, and much in the same way such things are defined in philosophical essays, alignments are best viewed in two perspectives; the objectivist and subjectivist. For the sake of the game's playability and simplicity, the objectivist perspective is seen and understood as the dominant and canonical one, and the one most vividly recommended by all writers that have contributed to Realmslore, due to the difficulty of relativist playability. This shall become clear once we elaborate on each alignment in particular (as we first begin with Evil, and elaborate on Good). For this purpose, entire transcripts from the Books of Vile Darkness and Exalted Deeds were prepared, by me, to provide everyone with a basic rundown of how any alignment should be treated, with few (and marked) alterations and additions from my part. Furthermore, I have tried to hunt for further information in more sources, in order to present as comprehensive and insightful a guide to how you can better your roleplaying by aspiring to the highest values of Good and the lowest depravities of Evil.
EVIL
Evil is a word that is probably overused. In the context of the game, the word should be reserved for the dark force of destruction and death that tempts souls to wrongdoing and perverts wholesomeness and purity at every turn. Evil is vile, corrupt, and irredeemably dark. It is not naughty or ill-tempered or misunderstood. It is black-hearted, selfish, cruel, bloodthirsty, and malevolent.
THE OBJECTIVE APPROACH
This is the straightforward approach taken in the D&D game, and it is the one stressed in these pages as well. From this frame of reference, evil can be judged objectively. The evil nature of a creature, act or item isn't relative to the person observing it; it just is evil or it isn't. This clear-cut definition allows spells such as Holy Smite to work. Conversely, an objective definition of Evil exists because the Detect Evil spell works. Want to know what's Evil? Don't study a philosophy book, just watch who gets hurt when the cleric casts Holy Smite. Those creatures are evil. The things they do, generally speaking, are evil acts. If your character isn't certain, he can summon a celestial creature or cast a Commune spell and simply ask, “Is this Evil?” The higher powers are right there, ready to communicate.
The Player's Handbook says, “'Evil' implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualm if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.”
This objective approach to evil works well for fantasy roleplaying games. Evil is a thing that a hero can point at and know he must fight. An objective concept of evil allows players (and their characters) to avoid most ethical or moral quandaries, particularly the kinds that can derail a game session. If you run an adventure about fighting gnolls, you don't normally want the entire session consumed by a philosophical debate about whether killing gnolls is a good thing or a bad thing.
THE RELATIVE APPROACH (VARIANT)
A second approach considers evil to be a relative concept that is wholly dependent on the attitude of the observer. This is not the approach of most D&D games; rather, it resembles how many people see the real world. Using this as a variant outlook changes a game dramatically – at least as far as “evil” is concerned. In the relative approach, evil is not something that your character can point a finger at; it's relative to each individual. While it's possible for a number of creatures (an entire culture, for example) to have a similar view on what is good and what is evil, another group might have a different or even opposite view. Of course, conflicting views can also occur if your D&D game uses the objective approach, but in that case, one group can simply prove that its views are right.
In a world where evil is relative, a deity might put forth tenets describing what is right and wrong, or good and evil. But another god might have different, even contradictory dogma. A paladin of one deity might talk about the evil, godless heathens across the mountains and eventually go to war with them. If she does, she may find herself battling paladins of a different god and a different culture who look upon the crusading paladin as an evil infidel.
If you decide that this is the approach you want, you have some game-related decisions to make ((Because, invariably, game rules will always have weight and place concerning the moderation of roleplay)). For instance, in a world where evil is relative, how does a Detect Evil spell work? When two paladins of opposing views meet on the field of battle, can they use their smite abilities against each other? The easiest and best option in this case is to do away with spells such as Detect Evil because they have no real meaning. Take away the Good and Evil descriptors from spells (So that any character can cast any of those spells), and disregard any holy or unholy damage a weapon deals. Having to know or determine the outlook of a character casting Detect Evil is cumbersome and unwieldy, and it leads to the confusion and arguments over who should be affected by the paladin's holy sword or the cleric's Holy Smite.
DEFINING EVIL
Of course, even if you take an objective approach in your game, evil people might not always call themselves evil. They would be wrong or simply lying to do so, but they might still deny their evil nature. Even the most deranged mass murderer might be able to justify his actions to himself in the name of his beliefs, his deity, or some skewed vision of what is best for the world.
A killer might slay any children he deems weak or unfit to reach adulthood. Another might kill children he believes will grow up and become evil themselves. Perhaps such a killer once had a prophetic dream telling him that evil was growing among the children of the town.
On a larger scale, an evil priest might believe that to serve better his dark god, he needs to destroy an entire village and sacrifice all the residents. Is that evil? Yes. Does the priest see it as evil? No, he sees it as a demonstration of his unending devotion and an aspect of his faith. Or perhaps he does see it as evil and doesn't care.
A dictator might order the elimination of an entire race of good creatures because she believes them to be evil. She might seek to dominate the world and bring its people under her unyielding fist. But such a despot could also believe that she is a good person and that the world will be better off with her guidance. This attitude makes her no less a villain.
INTENT AND CONTEXT
So, does the objective definition of evil imply that intent plays no part in determining what is good and what isn't? Only to a degree.
Consider the paladin Zophas. When climbing to the top of a hill of loose rocks to get away from some owlbears, he triggers a rock slide that buries the owlbears and continues down the hill, crushing a hut full of commoners. Is Zophas an evil murderer who must suddenly lose his lawful good alignment? No, although Zophas might still feel guilt and responsibility. He might attempt to right the inadvertent wrong as best he can.
But what if Zophas' friend Shurrin said, “Don't climb up there, Zophas! You might start a rock slide that will crush the hut!” Zophas goes anyway. Now is this evil? Probably. Zophas was either carelessly endangering the commoners or so overconfident of his climbing prowess that he acted out of hubris ((A necessarily Chaotic approach to things, and thus against paladin creeds)). At this point, Zophas isn't exactly a murderer, but he should probably lose his paladin abilities until he receives an Atonement spell or otherwise makes amends.
If Zophas can clearly see the danger of the rock slide but climbs up anyway because he wants to get away from the owlbears, that's clearly evil. In a world of black-and-white distinctions between good and evil, killing innocents to save yourself is an evil act. Sacrificing yourself for the good of others is a good act. It's a high standard, but that's the way it is.
The foregoing text defines three levels of intent: accidental acts ((Often not immediately changing alignments)), reckless or negligent acts ((At the very least, purely Chaotic in nature)), and intentionally evil misdeeds. Sometimes, however, those categories are insufficient to determine evil intent. You are free to judge an act in the context of other actions.
A maniac puts poison in a town's water supply, believing (wrongly) that all of the people in the town are demons. Is that evil? Yes. A glabrezu convinces a good character that the townsfolk are all fiends that must be destroyed, so the character pours poison into the town's water supply. Is that evil? Probably not – at least, not in the context of the rest of the character's actions and circumstances involved. Still, good characters shouldn't commit even remotely questionable acts on a large scale unless they're absolutely sure there's no other way to succeed. It's rarely a good idea to destroy a town of evil people, because there might be at least a few good people in the town as well.
But let's make this even more complicated. Another character witnesses the good character about to put poison in the town's drinking water. Is it evil for the witness to kill the poisoning character in order to stop him? No. Again, the intent isn't evil, and the context makes such an act preferable to the alternative. Standing by while a mass murder occurs – the other choice the witness has – is far more evil than preventing the poisoning.
GRAY AREAS
Even with the most black-and-white, objective approach to good and evil, gray areas will always exist. Consider this example: A terrible disease has come to the village of Varro, and the cure lies in the heartwood of the sacred trees of Varrowood. The villagers go into the wood to get the cure. The druids of Varrowood believe that the trees are holy and should not be violated. They try to stop the villagers. Is either side truly evil in this scenario? Probably not ((Thus fitting in the frame for Neutral characters and actions.
Not all conflicts are based on good versus evil. ((The War of Light and Darkness, laden in every aspect of Faerûnian life, is based on the timeless conflict between Selûne and Shar, Good and Evil, but from that initial clash were born many deities of law and chaos. Tempus, Silvanus, Mystryl and Amaunator are examples of pure Lawful and pure Chaotic deities that were spawned from that conflict, and they, too, are involved in their own inter deity conflicts based on the diametrical opposition of Law versus Chaos)) It is possible for two good nations to go to war. It is likely that two evil nations will go to war. Is it evil for your character to kill a good character if your character's kingdom is at war with his? That's certainly a gray area. Characters who are extremely strict in their moral outlook ((i.e. Focusing far more extremely on the Good side of the alignment spectrum than the Lawful/Chaotic)) should examine the reasons behind the war very closely. In general, quarter should be given and accepted. Such a character should cause no more damage and inflict no more harm than is necessary. If possible, he or she should find a different way to resolve the conflict.
EVIL ACTS
Examining the actions of the malevolent not only helps define what Evil is, but it also gives an insight into the schemes of a villain. What follows is more than a list that defines evil as opposed to good – it defines entire personalities.
LYING – Misdirection, tricks, and manipulation are tools of the trade for most villains. With such tools, they can lead enemies into traps, both physical and otherwise. A well-told, well-placed lie can redirect a whole army, change the opinion of an entire city's populace, or simply make an adventurer open the wrong door in a dungeon.
Some liars are compulsive; that is, they have a psychological need to lie. Others delight in fooling people ((though this can be a trait of any Chaotic character, good or evil)). If a villain can get a foe to believe a lie, he has shown himself (at least in his own mind) to be superior to that foe.
Intelligent villains thus often focus on gaining Bluff to facilitate their lies. Of course, being liars themselves alerts them to the fact that others probably lie just as much as they do. Thus, they often have a high Sense Motive ((Concentration)) modifier as well.
Lying is not necessarily an evil act ((It is a pure Chaotic tool, used for the disruption of the true order of things. It interferes with the logic of truth)), though it is a tool that can easily be used for evil ends. Lying is so easy to use for evil purposes that most knightly codes and the creeds of many good religions ((Especially, and mainly, the Lawful Good religions)) forbid it altogether.
CHEATING – Cheating is here defined as breaking the rules for personal gain (For, lato sensu, cheating is a pure Chaotic action – a Chaotic Good character can and will cheat if it means guaranteeing good, such as robbing the evil baron's taxes via violence in order to return the taxes to the needy). When evil villains cheat, it's not just at games. They create contracts with clauses that they can manipulate to trick others. Villains manipulate officials so that evildoers are set free instead of going to prison. They rig their enemies' equipment so that it breaks or does not function properly. Cheaters may threaten the lives of a councilman's family to make him vote for their plan. They may use spells and poison to ensure that a particular gladiator dies in the arena so that they can earn a profit by wagering on the survivor.
Cheating can take many forms. For example, a cheater might trick two friends into fighting each other, or fool an enemy's lover into betraying his or her loved one. A cheater might challenge an opponent to a rigged contest, or a fight that is rigged, or simply make an agreement that he or she has no intention on upholding. Even a Lawful Evil character will cheat, provided he can both get away with it and that it does not conflict with his assumed codes of conduct. Only such conditions prevent a Lawful Evil character from cheating whenever she feels like it.
THEFT – Any child can tell you that stealing is wrong. Villains, however, often see theft as the best way to acquire what they want. Evil people pay only for things they cannot take. ((Again, like the two previous acts, it is Chaotic in nature – and it is its potential for evil deeds that is here covered)) An evil character needs a reason not to steal. Fear of being caught is the most common deterrent, but sometimes a villain elects not to steal an item because he or she doesn't want to incur the wrath of its owner ((or a self-imposed conduct obliges him to not steal – such as a monastic vow of poverty, for instance, in the belief that volition in evil is far sweeter than forcefulness and randomness, which theft represents, a very Lawful point of view)). For example, a drow cleric might pay a rogue for a magic item. The cleric isn't averse to stealing from the rogue ((Drow clerics are all too often Chaotic or Neutral Evil, which makes this point of view especially attractive to them)), but she pays for the item so that the rogue will continue working for her.
BETRAYAL – A betrayal is often nothing more than an elaborate lie, but its implications are greater. Such an act involves earning someone's trust, and then using that trust against him or her. Common acts of betrayal include learning and then revealing secrets, or using trust to get close to one's enemies for an attack or theft.
Betrayal does not have to be intentional – or at least it does not have to start intentionally. Sometimes a character can be tempted into betraying someone whose trust he or she earned legitimately. Children can betray their parents, a lover can betray a lover, and a friend can betray a friend. However, it can also be more complex than that: A king can betray his people, a husband can betray his wife's family, and a human can betray his entire race. Virtually any sort of link between two creatures can eventually become the foundation for betrayal.
MURDER – Killing is one of the most horrible acts that a creature can commit. Murder is the killing of an intelligent creature for a nefarious purpose: Theft, personal gain, perverse pleasure, or the like.
The characters who got themselves into the green dragon's woodland lair to slay it are not murderers. In a fantasy world based on an objective definition of evil, killing an evil creature to stop it from doing further harm is not an evil act. Even killing an evil creature for personal gain is not exactly evil (although it is not a good act), because it still stops the creature's predations on the innocent. Such a justification, however, works only for the slaying of creatures of consummate, irredeemable evil, such as chromatic dragons ((And most of the Monster Manual contents)).
Evil beings delight in murder. It is the ultimate expression of their power and their willingness to commit any sort of heinous act. It shows that they are either powerful enough or detached enough to do anything they wish.
To particularly evil creatures, especially those with very alien outlooks, murder is itself a desirable goal. Some such creatures hate life and despise all that lives. They relish either death or undeath, and thus seek to quench life wherever possible. Such creatures are usually (But not always) undead themselves.
VENGEANCE – Revenge is a powerful force. An act of vengeance does not have to be evil, but the evil mindset usually redefines the concept as “revenge at any price”. Vengeance without limits can quickly lead to all sorts of evil acts.
For example, suppose someone steals a magic ring from an elven wizard. The wizard breaks into a duergar fortress to use a crystal ball to locate the thief. The elf teleports to the thief's location – a busy tavern – and begins hurtling lightning bolts into the crowd. The thief gets away and uses a Nondetection spell to keep such a close call from happening again. Undaunted, the wizard magically adopts an inconspicuous form and begins to track down the thief's family members, torturing them for information regarding his whereabouts. Such a scenario depicts the evil side of revenge.
Forgiveness and mercy are not traits that most evil creatures possess. Vengeance for wrongs committed against them – or even for perceived wrongs – is the only appropriate response.
WORSHIPPING EVIL GODS AND DEMONS – Priests who revere dark powers are as evil as the beings they serve. In the name of Bane, Shar or Lolth, these foul emissaries make living sacrifices, conduct malevolent rites, and put schemes in motion to aid their patrons. Sometimes, the activities of evil cultists are straightforward: kidnapping victims for sacrifice, stealing money to fund their temples, or simply following a dogma that requires murder, rape, or activities even more foul. Other times, their machinations are far subtler than such overt crimes.
For example, an archdevil such as Belial might begin a scheme by instructing his followers in a town (Through dreams, visions and Commune spells) to drive off families with healthy children of a particular age. In twenty years, when such children would have been adults in their prime, Belial intends to unleash a powerful cornugon to steal a valuable artifact from the local church. With few able-bodied adults available to stop the theft, the cornugon is more likely to succeed.
Evil temples are sometimes secret places hidden within unsuspecting communities. Beneath an old barn, in a warehouse, or simply in a back room of someone's home – an evil temple can be anywhere. Larger, more permanent shrines to malevolence are usually situated farther away from civilization – at least, far away from good-aligned communities. Such an evil church may be a towering structure of stone covered with macabre reliefs and filled with terrible statuary, standing alone in the wilderness. Other evil temples may be surrounded by towns or cities produced by foul creatures.
ANIMATING THE DEAD OR CREATING UNDEAD – Unliving corpses – corrupt mockeries of life and purity – are inherently evil. Creating them is one of the most heinous crimes against the world that a character can commit. Even if they are commanded to do something good, undead invariably bring negative energy into the world, which makes it a darker and more evil place.
Many communities keep their graveyards behind high walls or even post guards to keep grave robbers out. Grave-robbing is often a lucrative practice, since necromancers pay good money for raw materials. Of course, battlefields are also popular places for grave-robbers – or for necromancers themselves – to seek corpses.
CASTING EVIL SPELLS – Evil spells may create undead, inflict undue suffering, harm another's soul, or produce any of a slew of similar effects.
Sometimes, a nonevil spellcaster can get away with casting a few evil spells, as long as he or she does not do so for an evil purpose. But the path of evil magic leads quickly to corruption and destruction. Spells with corruption costs are so evil that they take a physical and spiritual toll on the caster.
DAMNING OR HARMING SOULS – While harming one's enemies physically is not inherently evil, harming their souls is always evil. Only the foulest of villains would actually want to cause pain to another creature's eternal aspect. Creatures without corrupt hearts simply dispatch their foes quickly, believing that sending a villain off to the justice of the afterlife is punishment enough. But evil beings like to capture foes and torture them to death, and some even prefer to torture the souls of their foes, never granting them the release of death. Worse still, some evil beings use their foul magic to destroy an opponent's soul, ending his or her existence altogether.
CONSORTING WITH FIENDS – If characters can be judged by the company they keep, then those who deal with fiends – demons and devils – are surely evil beings themselves. Fiends are the ultimate expression of evil given animate form – literally evil incarnate. Destroying a fiend is always a good act. Allowing a fiend to exist, let alone summoning one or helping one, is clearly evil.
Occasionally, a spellcaster may summon a fiendish creature to accomplish some task. Such an act is evil, but not terribly so. However, some characters, particularly those who worship demons or devils or see them as valuable allies, may work with (or for) fiends to further their own ends. Worse still, some mortals sell their souls to fiends in order to gain more power or support. Although dealing with fiends or selling souls is risky at best, the lust for power is a temptation too strong for some to resist. But fiends have great power, infinite life spans, and a delight for double-crossing others, so it's not surprising that most characters who ask for a fiend's aid end up on the wrong end of the deals they make.
CREATING EVIL CREATURES – Some villains are not content with simply consorting with, summoning, or controlling evil creatures. They feel the need to go one step further and actually create such creatures with foul experiments or evil magic.
Evil warlords sometimes create legions of horrible monsters (or have their underlings do so) and lead them into battle against the forces of good. Demons, devils and other foul creatures guard their fortresses. The desire to create is strong, and so is the desire to have a large number of easily-controllable minions. Both creation and control demonstrate power, and power-mad villains are all too common.
Another way to create evil creatures is to allow the monsters themselves to remake fallen foes in their own images. For example, a bodak's victims arise the next day as new bodaks, and a werewolf can spread its evil by infecting others with lycanthropy. Characters who foster such processes are often interested in spreading evil for evil's sake. Such evildoers love the chaos, death and suffering that such monsters bring.
USING OTHERS FOR PERSONAL GAIN – Whether it is sacrificing a victim on an evil god's altar to gain a boon, or simply stealing from a friend, using others for one's own purposes is a hallmark of villainy. A villain routinely puts others in harm's way to save his or her own neck – better that others die, surely.
The utter selfishness of an evil character rarely leaves room for empathy. He is so consumed with his own goals and desires that he can think of no reason not to succeed at the expense of others. At best, other creatures are cattle to be used, preyed upon, or led. At worst, they are gnats to be ignored or objects to be bypassed.
GREED – Greed is so simple a motivation that it hardly seems worth mentioning. Yet it drives villains perhaps more than any other factor. Greed is tied into most of the types of evil behavior mentioned here. Ambition taken too far – particularly advancement at the expense of others – can manifest itself as greed. Lust for wealth, power or prestige can lead to jealousy, theft, murder, betrayal and a host of other evils.
BULLYING AND COWING INNOCENTS – Bullying is simply a symptom of an obsession with power. A villain who has power over another likes to brandish that power to prove her own might, both to herself and to others. Such brutes feel that power has no worth if others do not know about it.
Although the archetypal bully is a strong and powerful thug, other kinds of bullies exist as well. Sometimes a bully uses magical might rather than physical prowess to cow those around her. Sometimes the power is political in nature. The ten-year-old princess who forces bards to sing songs of her beauty or else face the wrath of her tyrannical mother (the queen) is indeed a bully.
BRINGING DESPAIR – Evil creatures often enjoy spreading pain and misery to others. Some do this because breaking the spirits of others makes them feel superior: others sow despair for the sheer joy it provides them.
Sometimes encouraging misery runs counter to other evil goals. For example, a blackguard interested in bringing despair might leave his enemies alive but wounded, defeated, and broken and maybe even cursed or magically corrupted). However, refusing to finish off one's foes isn't always the wisest course of action, because the blackguard's enemies might heal themselves and oppose him again, with a vengeance.
Similarly, a misery-loving fiend might tell a captured foe his plans before he kills her, just to revel in his victim's despair. Such a creature wants its enemies to realize how utterly defeated they are.
A villain with a love of misery may attempt to break his foes, either instead of or before killing them. Straightforward techniques such as torture can break an enemy, and so can more elaborate schemes such as destroying the good aspects of an enemy's life, one by one. The villain might also frame the foe for others' crimes, spread lies about him, destroy his home, or infect him with a disease. A crafty, despair-loving villain makes it unusual for the foe's loved ones to speak his name except as a curse.
Despair-loving creatures delight in spells such as Bestow Curse, Contagion, and Sorrow. Such villains love using any magical effect that does more than simply kill their foes because they consider death too pleasant an end.
TEMPTING OTHERS – Tempting good individuals to do wrong is an evil act. Plots with this goal are largely the purview of demons and devils that seek to corrupt mortals in order to taint their souls. The products of a tempter's work are larvae, the physical manifestations of evil souls on the Lower Planes. Larvae are valuable to fiends: in fact, they are a form of currency in their own right ((Most especially so with the Devils, who must have souls to fuel their powers)). Some demons and devils, particularly erinyes, succubi and glabrezu spend almost all their time corrupting mortals with offers of sex, power, magic or other pleasures.
When evil mortals tempt other mortals, often the tempation comes in the form of a bribe to get others to do what the villain wants. For example, a wealthy man might convince a woman to kill her father in return for a vast sum of money. Unlike a demon, the wealthy man doesn't care about corrupting the woman's soul; he just wants the father dead. Still other mortal evildoers might tempt someone to commit an evil act for the sheer pleasire of spreading temptation.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE SPECIFIC ALIGNMENTS
CHAOTIC EVIL
With chaotic evil, the unifying factor is “fear of the big guy” (just as with chaotic good, the unifying social factor is “desire to look out for the evil guy”). Chaotic evil has a reputation as “the eeeeeeeevilest evil” because the big booty-trouncing red dragons and Unspeakable Demons from the Abyss were chaotic evil. Maybe there's a connection, but it works in the other direction. Big Red isn't powerful because he is chaotic evil. He's chaotic evil because he's powerful. When you can win any argument by saying “Hey, talk to the 14-die breath weapon”, there's not a lot of incentive to be organized or reasonable.
Chaotic evil is lazy evil: it gets things done in the simplest possible way. Chaotic evil can also be considered “efficient evil”. Coveting your neighbor's house? Conk him over the head and move in! Don't like the adventurers creeping in your dungeon? Waste'em! Nothing troubling you at the moment? Take a nap! Like every other alignment, chaotic evil types tend to hang together because they understand one another. These groups don't have a lot of rules or formal structures. The boss is the boss because he gets things done and is strong enough to bend others to his will. The underlings want to be in charge, and one of them will probably get ambitious enough to attack the leader eventually … assuming the leader doesn't crush him first.
A society based on violence and poor impulse control has some built-in limits to its size. No matter how powerful a leader is, his number of followers is limited to those he can personally awe or bully ((See the Cyricists, or the Orcish society)). If the followers eat to live (as opposed to demons, who only eat for the fun of it), the number is far more limited, because chaotic evil types don't have the patience to farm or the organizational skills to make slaves do it. Basically, chaotic evil groups are like biker gangs in those old 1950s scare flicks. They're tough, they're mean, they're unpredictable, they ride in and seize what they want, but they don't stick around because they really can't. Once they've stolen whatever they can carry, there's no reason to stay: They're off to the next town ripe for the riping.
Individually, chaotic evil beings tend to be the toughest because they're more likely to do crazy
stuff like fighting to the death or meet a massed charge with a massed charge. Their tactics tend to be built around mobility, surprise and overwhelming offense. But because they burn twice as bright, they only last half as long.
These problems only get amplified in a society where everyone's looking out for number one, and there's no stated or implied punishment if you successfully kill the boss. Chaotic evil gangs tend to scatter when the leader dies, and if you negotiate with the underlings it doesn't take long to find someone who'd love to slit the chief's throat – if he thought he could get away with it. As individually tough as they are, chaotic evil societies are among the easiest to take apart. Methodical patience and a willingness to play the inevitable factions off against eachother can be the greatest allies when dealing with such groups.
((The best example of this is how Drow society is conducted. Might makes Right for Chaotic Evil characters – it does not immediately lead them to outright crazed violence. Rather a deep seethed sense of paranoia that pits them against everyone else.))
LAWFUL EVIL
All the problems chaotic evil societies have are not problems for lawful evil. Chaotic evil is the cycle gang who kicks down your door, steals your stuff, burns your house and deep-fries your puppy dog – then leaves. Lawful evil is a faceless bureaucracy that seizes your house through eminent domain laws, confiscates your property with a court-ordered foreclosure, puts your puppy dog to sleep because he wasn't registered, and then offers to rent your old house back to you at a reasonable rate. Lawful evil is organized. Violence is the last resort, after it's tried blackmail, bribery, threats and devious backroom political maneuvering. Chaotic evil hates to back down from an open fight. Lawful evil hates open fights; it would much rather sneak into your bedroom, cast a sleep spell on you to make sure you're really out, and then put a pillow over your face. So much tidier.
Lawful Evil societies have far, far greater potential for longevity and growth because they're based on obedience, order and deferring gratification. Where chaotic evil wants it now, lawful evil wants it all, and if it has to wait ten years to wear you down, it's got a clear calendar. It's simple to take down a chaotic evil society; you just kill the boss (this may not be easy, but it is simple.) Rarely is it that straightforward in a lawful evil socirty, because the structures of the society are what make it evil. Cut down one corporal in the army and another comes straight out of the military academy to take his place. Lawful evil might have a few noteworthy individuals who serve as champions and leaders, but they don't rely on them the way chaotic evil does. You can hack a few branches off, but the tree is still there.
For instance, imagine a society that holds that “Only old male humans are worthy of respect”. If you fall outside those three categories, it is okay for any old male human to rob, enslave or imprison you. If you have one of those traits, you are better off than those with none, and if you've got two, you're almost a citizen – but not quite. The old male humans have got a good thing going, so they support the system. The old male elves and dwarves are second class citizens., but they're still better off than young women, so they can't complain too much. But if you're a young halfling woman, you'd better not show your face in public because you have no legal recourse for anything anyone wants to do with you.
Conquering a lawful evil society is no picnic because they plan, organize and obey their superiors. Lawful evil societies are built on the idea that individuals are tools. There is nothing unique or special about any particular hobgoblin in the army, so the strategies and tactics of the lawful evil mob are based on the idea that any individual can do it. They tend towards siege engines, fortifications, phalanxes and defensive technologies, like shields and armor.
NEUTRAL (A.k.a. PURE) EVIL
Unlike either chaotic or lawful evil, the neutral evil organization both respects laws and tries to find a way around them. There is structure, but it is loosely created and even less adhered to. The ideal situation for a neutral evil 'person' is one in which he can convince the opponent to abide by the rules – all the while breaking them himself. They are hypocrites, two-faced dealers that provide a back-drop for their gains, and then destroy their own rules whenever it becomes troublesome to deal with them.
In many games, the neutral evil character is rightfully described as “Neutral Me”. Their number one goal is not simply to acquire power, or riches, but to grasp anything that they desire. After they have gained it, they may well forget about it and move on – once its usefulness is finished, or the thrill of the acquisition is gone. Chaotic evil wants it now. Lawful evil wants it all. Neutral evil simply wants it, and will go to any lengths, including patience, outright bartering or even working with a good party to get it. The neutral evil villains do occasionally keep their word and stick to contracts – when it is in their best interest.
Where you can trust chaotic evil to rampage, and lawful evil to tyrannize, you just can't trust neutral evil will do anything. They even break their own rules. Unlike chaotic evil, they have no problem with impulse control – they can machinate with the best of them. Unlike lawful evil, on the other hand, they have no desire to organize or conform, and can adapt their plan and their nature as suits the situation.
While this can make for an extremely powerful individual, neutral evil societies are rare and short-lived. People with neutral evil tendencies rarely care enough to gather in groups, unless the pauoff is rich ((For instance, the clergy of Shar, who adhere in small cells simply because they are most convenient for the persecution of Shar's goals.)) They almost never create established communities, or form organized and structured government systems – what would be the point? They would all ignore it, machinate the rules, and eventually destroy the society they had created. A neutral evil individual prefers to find an existing society, and abuse its laws and systems for their own gain, all the while pretending to adhere to their structure. This allows the neutral evil to take an advantage over the indigent residents, who actually do follow the laws and rules, and won't see the neutral evil's plan coming until it is too late.
Then, after the neutral evil individual has taken everything he wanted, he moves on and finds another society to exploit. Good, evil, beneficent or malevolent - it doesn't matter, so long as the neutral evil gets whatever he was searching for.
The occasional small neutral evil society that does form must have some other reason to stay together. Family units, parasitic creatures or other systems where the group is more powerful than the individual can work, but only so long as all parties know that they would not be better off alone (or if they cannot exist apart) ((Again, see Sharran cult cell formation and society)). In such circumstances, the leader is often the individual who can manipulate the others into supporting him, or whose personal ability outshines the others. Even so, he should always be aware that the rest of the society is looking for ways around his command, and to “slip the bonds” of his control.
Conquering a neutral evil society is a laughable prospect. First, they aren't organized enough to “conquer”. If you march in and claim the area, they will certainly agree with you – and then quietly assassinate your generals, commanders, and whoever else needs to be removed in order for you to leave them alone. Ordering tithe or obeisance from a neutral evil will bring you a great deal of polite lip service, at least until such time as you realize the shipments of grain were poisoned,
and now your peasants are dying by the score. Neutral evil doesn't need pride, and it doesn't need to be “respected”. It isn't going to fight you face-to-face, and it won't burst into a rampage of chaotic slaughter when you trigger its anger. It will smile politely, bow, and then stab you in the back when you least expect it. It will find your weak link, and exploit it, The dagger in your back might be held by your dear wife, convinced that you are a shapechanger, or even from your closest friend. The worst part is that the neutral evil individual has most likely convinced these people that they are doing it “for your own good”. All behind the scenes, of course, and carefully ignoring only the rules that would constrict his actions.
CONCLUSION
So, what to apprehend from all of this? First off, alignments are set as the ultimate guiding forces that shape the Realms. In a black-grey-and-white settings such as the Forgotten Realms, it is not as evident. The Gods personify the alignments and their many aspects, as do extraplanar creatures such as Devils, Demons and Celestials. When the relativist perspective can be adopted, these pillar conceptions of Realmslore topple over. Infinite paradoxes are created, and a number of things inherent to the setting, such as the Negative and Positive Energy Planes, evil and good energies used in spells and yet others are made completely and utterly useless, which impoverishes the setting in its entirety to create something different altogether. Which is why I heartily concur with the author of the Book of Vile Darkness when he says that the objectivist perspective is best adopted, for it was in that perspective that all Realmslore was written. To apply a relativist approach would mean reinventing the entire setting from the very foundation blocks. While not reprehensible, it is a herculean task, given the astounding level of detail with which life in the Realms has been described and designed.
Evil is, thus, the force of destruction that threatens and permeates the world, the second-half of the Good/Evil dichotomy that defines the entirety of the multiverse. In many examples, it is irredeemable, most often so in creatures so ingrained into it that it would be impossible to turn them away from misdeed, such as demons, chromatic dragons and the vast majority of undead. A force well-defined, and not the philosophical concept we, as real-world humans, understand it to be.
Evil implies hurting, destroying, corrupting, all in the name of evil values such as selfishness and lust. To even brush in acts permeated in it will lead to a tainted soul in need of purification. Such is the nature of the alignments in the forgotten realms – forces that are not limited to human behavior, but to the very behavior of the cosmos. Forces far, far above themselves.